The subject application relates generally to a feeding mechanism of a header for a combine harvester. In particular, the subject application relates to a header having a conveyor, such as a cross auger, and a feeding mechanism for processing grain to a feeder house of the combine harvester.
Combines are used to harvest agricultural crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and other grain crops. As the combine is driven through crop fields, the combine cuts the crop, separates the desired crop from the undesired waste, stores the crop, and discards the waste.
In a typical combine harvester, a header is mounted to the front of the combine to gather the crop and feed the crop into the combine for processing. As the combine is driven through the field, the crop material is collected by the header and transported to a feeder house. The crop material is then transported upwardly and into the combine by a feeder drum at the front of the feeder house and a feed elevator located within the feeder house. The crop material then typically passes through a threshing and separating mechanism. Stalk material that is separated from the grain is commonly referred to as material other than grain (MOG).
After passing through the threshing and separating mechanism, the grain and MOG are deposited onto a grain cleaning system. The grain cleaning system of a typical combine includes a pair of adjustable cleaning sieves, often referred to as a chaffer sieve and a shoe sieve.
The sieves are typically reciprocated back and forth in opposite directions along an arcuate path. This motion has the tendency to separate the grain from the MOG. To further separate the grain from the MOG, a cleaning fan or blower is positioned so as to blow air up through the cleaning sieves. This flow of air tends to blow the MOG, which is typically lighter than grain, rearwardly and out the back of the combine. Grain, which is heavier than MOG, is allowed to drop through the openings in the sieve.
The clean grain that falls through the cleaning sieves is deposited on a collection panel positioned beneath the cleaning sieves. The collection panel is angled so as to permit the grain to flow, under the influence of gravity, into an auger trough positioned along the lowermost edge of the collection panel. The auger trough is typically positioned near the forward end of the cleaning sieves and extends along the width of the sieves. The grain collected in the auger trough is then moved by an auger towards the side of the combine where it is raised by a grain elevator and deposited into a storage tank or grain tank.
In typical combines, current auger based headers have reached their effective capacity in regards to feeding material from the header cross auger into the combine's feeder house. Crop material cut by the header's knives is pulled into the cross auger for transport to the feeder house. The cross auger is typically adjusted to compress the moving crop material between the outer circumference of the cross auger flights and either the bottom of the auger trough or the rear wall of the header. However, as the cut crop material reaches the feeder house inlet opening, this pinch point is lost and the grain typically expands prior to being pulled into the feeder house. Oftentimes this expansion of crop material (especially in high volume crops) prevents the combine feeder conveyor from fully controlling the material resulting in crop material buildup about the feeder house inlet opening.
In conventional combine headers, a gap or void exists between the cross auger of the header and the feeder drum of the feeder house. This void creates a “dead zone” within which harvested grain is not actively being transported or moved. As a result, the rate of grain processed can be negatively impacted resulting in the buildup of grain at this location.